Eggy has shared its latest single, “Laurel”, a vintage rock ode to the intangible allure of the City of Angels. “Laurel” follows “A Moment’s Notice” as the second single to arrive from the New Haven, CT quartet’s long-awaited sophomore studio album, Waiting Game, due out September 6th.
With this latest single, Eggy—comprised of Jake Brownstein (guitar, vocals), Dani Battat (keys, vocals), Mike Goodman (bass, vocals), and Alex Bailey (drums, vocals)—continues to venture outside the “jam band” box. Over sunny, indie-ballad riffs and whimsical sonic embellishments that evoke a youthful sense yearning, Bailey sings of an enchanting L.A. woman named “Laurel”, but as this starry-eyed courtship develops like a polaroid and the imagery pulls toward the surreal, it becomes increasingly apparent that Laurel’s allure and the intangible romanticism of Los Angeles are one and the same.
The track was conceived by longtime Eggy lyrical co-conspirator Patrick Amarante and collaboratively fleshed out by Battat and Brownstein. As Amarante explained to Live For Live Music, “Laurel was inspired by the final weeks I spent living in Los Angeles. The first words [‘She marvels at the lights of the traffic’] came to me while looking out at the Santa Monica mountains from my front porch, contemplating the decision to move back East and what I’d leave behind in doing so. In the end, I didn’t stay, but I definitely looked back while leaving.”
“Laurel” was the first of several songs the band worked on remotely with Waiting Game producer James Petralli ahead of the album recording sessions at his Pasadena, CA home studio. Petralli, then a recent transplant to L.A., resonated with the feelings evoked by the track and pushed the band to dive deeper into the lyrical content.
As the producer wrote when the album’s release date was announced earlier this week, “A couple months after I got set up in California, I started a weekly virtual meeting with the group Eggy over coffee to talk about working on art. This is an activity that I enjoy very much and have grown accustomed to over the past few years. I loved this process with them. They were open and refreshingly communicative with one another. Each of them was committed to making their best work together. They were willing to dig deep and honor the small details in their writing and then in the recording.”
Listen to “Laurel” by Eggy via the Spotify player below or stream it via the platform of your choice here. Click below to read along with the lyrics while you listen. Pre-order your vinyl copy of Waiting Game here.
Eggy – “Laurel”
Waiting Game is set to arrive amid Eggy’s biggest year of touring to date. The band will spend the summer and fall playing major festivals like Bonnaroo (6/13), Electric Forest (6/20–6/24), High Sierra (7/5–7/7), FloydFest (7/24–7/27), Sea.Hear.Now (9/14–9/15), Austin City Limits (10/4–10/8, 10/11–10/13) and more in addition to making its debut appearance at Red Rocks Amphitheatre on July 4th supporting Blues Traveler. In August, Eggy will accompany Umphrey’s McGee on a run of amphitheater dates. For a full list of upcoming Eggy tour dates, head here.